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Three years after the fall of the Berlin Wall, the writer Christa Wolf was granted access to her newly declassified Stasi files. She was not surprised to discover forty-two volumes of documents produced by the East German secret police. But what was surprising was a thin green folder whose contents told an unfamiliar story: in the early 1960s, Wolf had been an informant for the Communist government. And yet, thirty years on, she had absolutely no recollection of it.Read more...

Abstract:

Three years after the fall of the Berlin Wall, the author began to sort through her newly declassified Stasi files. Known for her defiance and outspokenness, she was not especially surprised to discover forty-two volumes of documents collected by the East German secret police. This book is based on the year she spent in LA after these revelations.Read more...

Reviews

Editorial reviews

Publisher Synopsis

"Wolf's ability to create layers of meaning in a peripatetic structure across three, sometimes four, different time periods is astounding . . . Damion Searls has done a knockout job here. The prose is lovely but invisible in the reading, which is exactly what it should be."--Sarah Gerard, "Three Percent""[Wolf's] quest for personal integrity within a flawed system, and the honesty of her prose, cannot help but impress."--"The Economist""Engrossing . . . the book aptly captures Wolf's tortured state of mind at a critical juncture -- the moment she is forced to ponder her complicity, albeit largely harmless, with a criminal regime and the collapse of everything she once believed in." --Joshua Hammer, "The New York Times ""A moving melancholic remembrance by writer who--one final time--attempts to make sense of an historical and personal past, for herself and for her readers . . . In Searls's professional hands, "City of Angels" is a fine valedictory."--Kevin Nolan, "The Rumpus""Explaining without accusing, "City of Angels "is a profound book, even a heroic one."--Todd Gitlin, "The New Republic""Searls's excellent translation effectively conveys Wolf's wordplay."--"The New Yorker""Defying superlatives and superbly translated . . . In her final novel, Wolf . . . outdid herself."--"Booklist" (starred review) " . . . there's an odd fascination in watching Wolf navigate depression, guilt, anger, and Los Angeles . . . It's worth it to see Wolf grappling with a past that, far from being dead, is live -- like ammunition."-- "Publishers' Weekly""[A] fascinating book."--"Kirkus Reviews""Finishing [Christa Wolf's books], the reader is covered by a sense of completeness, of having been taken on a journey in the company of a seer who has stared, with attention, mercy, and courage, into the world's heart." --Mary Gordon, "The New York Times Book Review"Read more...